diglossia

n. the situation in which two varieties of a language coexist and have distinct social functions within a community; these are usually characterized by high (H) and low (L) uses, H being associated with formality and literacy, and L with everyday colloquial usage. See also code switching; multilingualism; vernacular. [first described in 1959 by U.S. linguist Charles Ferguson (1921–1998)]

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Psychology term of the day

January 28th 2025

mixed receptive-expressive language disorder

in DSM–IV–TR, a developmental communication disorder that combines the symptoms of expressive language disorder with the symptoms of semantic comprehension problems, leading to difficulty with word associations, categorization, and verbal mediation in general.